MG Motor India Monday expressed surprise at leaving out of private four-wheeler electric vehicles (EVs) for support under the FAME II scheme saying for EV culture to develop in India, widespread application across segments irrespective of price and size needs to be encouraged.
Under the Rs 10,000-crore Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles (FAME) II scheme announced last week, subsidies will be given to only to three-wheelers and four-wheelers used for public transport or registered for commercial purposes.
In the two-wheeler segment, the focus will be on private vehicles.
"We believe that to encourage an 'EV culture' in India, widespread application across segments irrespective of price and size is needed including for personal car users," MG Motor India President & Managing Director Rajeev Chaba said in a statement.
He further said, "This will encourage people from all sections of the society to go for environment-friendly mobility solutions. Nothing has been announced on the private car usage front, which is a little surprising as it would have really stimulated consumer demand and led to even faster acceptance of EVs in India."
Welcoming the FAME II scheme that would be implemented from April 1 this year, Chaba said it is a step forward for faster adoption of EVs in India.
"The new policy, notification of which is still awaited, should help spur investments in the EV space and enable the industry stakeholders to foster a complete ecosystem for EVs in India," he added.
These decisions, Chaba said, "when implemented should encourage companies that are focused in the area of green mobility, stimulating deep R&D and technological expertise, while allowing more investments to be earmarked for the development of various components for EVs".
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He, however, hoped that the government "does not fix any price cap on EVs in India, ensuring adoption of world-class technologies and widespread application".
Stating that the company is waiting for the fine print to clearly understand modalities of incentives for the passenger cars, he said MG Motor India is gearing up to launch its first pure electric vehicle the MG eZS in the fourth quarter of this year.
"Having said this, we welcome the government's decision to announce FAME II as it augurs positively for development of clean and sustainable mobility," Chaba said.
The Union Cabinet last week approved the FAME II scheme through which the government plans to support 10 lakh electric two-wheelers, five lakh three-wheelers, 55,000 four-wheelers and 7,000 buses.
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